Goa’s spin-bowling all-rounder Shadab Jakati has announced retirement from all forms of the game. Having made his first-class and List A debut in 1998-1999, Jakati’s career has been quite illustrious, but the 39-year-old believes it was important to ‘stop somewhere’.
“At some point of time, you had to call it a day. I wanted to retire on my terms. I was thinking about it for the past few months, and I decided to end it,” an emotional Jakati told Sportstar on Friday.
In his 20-year long career, Jakati has featured in 92 first-class games and 82 List A fixtures, along with 91 T20s. With nearly 400 wickets in his kitty, Jakati was also one of the key members of Chennai Super Kings a few years ago.
“Playing IPL was a special moment for me. It was an honour playing alongside Mahendra Singh Dhoni, Matthew Hayden and others,” Jakati said. He still cherishes the moment when he dismissed Sachin Tendulkar in the IPL final in 2010. “That wicket eventually helped us win the title. That will always remain a special moment,” Jakati said.
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Despite being one of the seasoned campaigners, Jakati was left out of Goa squad since last year. “It was one of the factors, but even though I was not playing cricket, I was involved in cricketing affairs. I did some coaching — both private and also in leagues — in the Canada T20 league and also did some work with an academy in Sri Lanka,” Jakati said.
For the past few months, his family backed him to take the ‘tough call’. “But even now, I will continue to be associated with cricket. This game has given me everything and I want to give it back to cricket,” Jakati said. “I am thankful to Goa Cricket and the BCCI for letting me play for so many years. There have been some fantastic memories…”
When he broke into the big league, Jakati did not imagine he would come so far. And he is happy to walk into sunset on his terms.
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